On Thursday, Apple showed off a new line of MacBook Pro laptops at its headquarters, complete with demos of a new trackpad and touch-responsive tool bar, among other bells and whistles.
But one laptop absent from the spectacle was the MacBook Air—and that’s because it seems Apple is quietly killing it off.
Though it will continue to sell the 13-inch version of the ultra-thin laptop (the smaller 11-inch machine is officially gone), it’s as good as dead. Apple (AAPL) isn’t going to update it and hasn’t said whether it will someday.
In consumer electronics company language, this means it’s moving on from the MacBook Air.
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During its press event to unveil its new devices, Apple’s push for customers to shift to its new line of MacBrook Pro laptops couldn’t be more obvious. Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing, spent several minutes comparing the 13-inch MacBook Pro to the MacBook Air of the same size, emphasizing that the former is as light and even smaller than the latter.
At the end, he pull up all three new MacBook Pro devices, along with Apple’s ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook onto the screen, presenting the company’s new lineup of laptops to the audience—a not-so-subtle message that we should just forget the others exist. It should be noted that while Apple didn’t introduce an update to the 12-inch MacBook, it’s not a sign that it’s dead as the device is only about 18 months old.
For now, the 13-inch MacBook Air is available for $999 (with 128GB of storage) or $1,199 (with 256GB of storage).